Jan Baszak
1,90 m
White, soft, elegant velour enwraps the sculptures that Jan Baszak furnishes the Ujazdowski Castle’s Project Room with. The artist tries to feel at home here and play host at the same time. At first sight, his sofa sculptures resemble shopping-mall “islands,” which are meant to offer a substitute of privacy in public space, but are too ill-suited and too universal at the same time to satisfy the individual needs of intimacy and comfort. Jan Baszak’s sculptures, however, are not meant to be sat on, and the artist adapts them to his particular dimensions. What would happen if everything were three centimetres taller? In the project 1,90 m, Jan Baszak talks about spatial orientation and the experience of proportions, but also about the sculptor’s role and the need to redefine the notions of realism and figuration in sculpture.
The Project Room is a place for the presentation of work by young Polish artists. All exhibitions are premieres and are produced specially for the space. This season, we have already shown an installation by Kornelia Dzikowska, and other artists to be introduced in 2020 include Adelina Cimochowicz, Piotr Bruch, Sebastian Sebulec, and Marek Wodzisławski.
Jan Baszak (b. 1994) lives and works in Szczecin. His principal media are drawing, sculpture, and installation art. He is interested in counterfeit design, tedious tinkering, the choreography of daily life imposed by architecture, and copymaking. Member of the collective Młode Suki (Iga Świeściak, Grażyna Monika Olszewska), which he performs, dances, and sews with.
Jan Baszak 1,90 m exhibition at the Project Room of the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art. Photo: Maciej Landsberg
